Badenoch: Pro-Palestine protesters out to intimidate Jews

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said pro-Palestine demonstrators are abusing their right to protest and that many people at the marches are “actually out to intimidate Jews”.

She said, “I think the fact that they were marching on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, shows that many of the people going on these marches are actually out to intimidate Jews, and I think that that’s something that should be stopped.

“We have a right to protest in this country, but people are abusing those rights. Rights come with responsibilities.”

Badenoch was asked about the impact of marches in the aftermath of last week’s horrific Manchester synagogue killings in a series of interviews at the start of the Tories’ conference in Manchester.

She also said the government needs to prove to Jewish people it is on their side.

The Conservative leader told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “The Government needs to start proving to Jewish people that they have got their back.

“The recognition of Palestine when Hamas still had hostages sent a terrible signal to Jewish people in this country, but the Government did not care.

“I want them to know that we care.”

She also responded to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s confirmation that police are to be given greater powers to restrict protests by allowing them to consider the “cumulative impact” of repeated demonstrations.

The measures follow frequent pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including an event in London on Saturday, which saw almost 500 arrests.

“What I would say to what the Government has announced is: what took you so long? Every time we try to do these things in government, they opposed it,” said Badenoch.

She added, “I always said we needed to stop that climate of intimidation and fear. What we saw was a lot of people out to get Jews – that is something that should not be happening in this country.”

Asked if the Prime Minister had blood on his hands, the Tory leader said on GB News: “The fact that there are people in the Jewish community who are saying that just goes to show how much he has let them down.

“I wouldn’t use that language, but I would say that he has not done anything near enough to make Jews feel safe in this country.”

The Tory leader also attempted to criticise the new Home Secretary during an interview on the BBC’s Sunday Politics show, presented by Laura Kuenssberg.

She said ” the issue, from my perspective, is, why should the public trust a home secretary who not that long ago, was protesting herself”.

She was referring to Mahmood’s participation in a protest outside a supermarket that stocked Israeli goods when she was a young MP.